With the substitutions of Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden and Nico O’Reilly, the hosts wanted to provide more offensive tempo and impetus after the break. But despite the home team’s now bolder performance, Leverkusen remained courageous and rewarded themselves again: After an outstanding attack, Schick prevailed in an aerial duel with Aké after a Maza cross and headed into the goal from the right to make it 2-0.
City now pushed forward aggressively, while Bayer threw everything into defending their lead. When Haaland came onto the field in the 65th minute for ex-Frankfurt player Omar Marmoush, the City fans were loudly hopeful. Just a minute later, the Norwegian headed his first shot, but missed. Minutes later, Flekken stopped the top striker with a strong scene.
Haaland also repeatedly despaired of the strongly defending Leverkusen team, which could hardly get out of its own defensive third. Around ten minutes before the end, the first spectators left the stadium and missed, among other things, another strong save from Flekken after a free kick from Joker Rayan Cherki. Until the end, Bayer threw themselves into almost every shot and withstood the pressure.